San Diego State tops Wyoming 77-68 to snap 2-game skid

SAN DIEGO (AP) Trey Kell scored 18 points, Malik Pope had 17 points, eight rebounds and four steals, and San Diego State beat Wyoming 77-68 on Tuesday night for the Aztecs’ ninth straight home win in the series.

San Diego State, which was coming off a loss at home to Colorado State, hasn’t dropped consecutive home games in conference play since 2005.

Justin James raced down the floor in the closing seconds of the first half, dribbled behind his back and hit a pull-up 3-pointer at the buzzer as Wyoming rallied within 31-27 after being down by as many as 17.

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But Pope opened the second half with a 3-pointer and SDSU led by at least seven points the rest of the way.

Jeremy Hemsley, averaging a team-leading 15 points per game, was held to five points for San Diego (12-9, 4-5 Mountain West) after missing all four of his field goals. Dakarai Allen had 13 points and Montaque Gill-Caesar 12.

James finished with 20 points for Wyoming (14-9, 4-6) and Alan Herndon had 14 points and 10 boards.

James and Jeremy Lieberman hit 3-pointers on back-to-back Wyoming possessions to pull to 70-63 but Hemsley answered the 3s with four straight free throws.